Sick and injured start leaving Syria’s besieged Ghouta

Ghouta (Syria), Mar 14 (ANI): Sick and injured civilians left a rebel enclave in Syria’s eastern Ghouta on March 13 as part of the first medical evacuation since a massive assault on the area began nearly a month ago. Men, women and children waited in the town of Douma for evacuation in Syrian Red Crescent buses. Syrian government forces have captured swathes of eastern Ghouta, a pocket of satellite towns and farmland, splintering it into three separate zones in recent days. For months, the United Nations has pleaded with authorities to allow the evacuation of hundreds of patients, including children with cancer. The Ghouta enclave is home to nearly 4, 00,000 people, under army siege since 2013 without enough food, water, or medicine, the world body says.